Steve Smith has perfect analogy for why Panthers benching Bryce Young was right call

Carolina's greatest player of all time explains why they couldn't leave Bryce Young on the field.

Tim Weaver | Sep 19, 2024

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - OCTOBER 06: Former Carolina Panthers player Steve Smith before the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Bank of America Stadium on October 06, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina. / (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

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Carolina Panthers

The Carolina Panthers made a big, bold surprise move on Monday, benching their struggling second-year quarterback Bryce Young just two games into the season. Sending a former number one overall pick to the sidelines after just 18 starts has never been done before in the NFL, but Young's historically bad performance to start the season gave them little choice.

Everyone has weighed in on their take, and most seem to agree it needed to be done The greatest player in franchise history says that the Panthers made the right call. Here's Hall of Famer and former Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. talking to Dan Patrick about why they had to.

.@SteveSmithSr89 explains why he thinks it's a good thing that the #Panthers are sitting Bryce Young:

"If you throw a young man into to the swimming pool and he's drowning a little bit, you don't remove him from the pool and throw him into the ocean." pic.twitter.com/EknE5N1T6e
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 18, 2024

Smith has it right. Young was not only not getting any better on the field, he was actually playing even worse than his rookie season. He needed to reset his mind and the only way to do that is standing on the sidelines for a while.

As for what comes next, head coach Dave Canales claims the team is not looking to trade Young. Assuming that's true, Young should get another chance to start later this season. For now, Andy Dalton has the ball.